Wednesday, 25 October 2017

THE National Social Security Authority (NSSA) could have
lost millions of pensioners’ funds after it purportedly bought a non-existent
Chegutu farm from Philip Chiyangwa as new details emerge that the transaction
was nullified by government as early as 2004.

Chiyangwa reportedly sold 526 hectares of land to NSSA in
2003 for Z$310 million (now valued at $3,5 million), but had failed to transfer
ownership to the authority for the past 14 years, according to documents in NewsDay’s
possession.

NSSA, feeling the heat after Auditor-General Mildred Chiri
in her 2016 audit report revealed the authority had written off the asset in
its books as it could not locate the land, later wrote to Chegutu Municipality
seeking clarity on the matter.

A letter from Chegutu town clerk Alex Mandigo to NSSA dated
June 13 this year said the land in question did not exist.

“It was further pointed out that the purported sale between
Gabroc Enterprises and NSSA related to a non-existent piece of land referred to
in your documents as ‘portions of Chegutu town land known as Hinton Ville’ or
‘near David Whitehead’. We have no record of such property in our jurisdiction
and direct you to the Surveyor-General’s Office/Registrar of Deeds to ascertain
the existence and location of such property,” part of the letter read.

The municipality further highlighted that the purported
deal was null and void from the beginning and a government-instituted inquiry
in 2004 said the same.

“With respect to this transaction, it was brought to the
attention of NSSA that the transaction was thoroughly investigated by
government and results of the investigation concluded that the transaction was
illegal and therefore null and void at both law and policy,” it added.

Contacted for comment yesterday, Mandigo said: “I have
nothing to say on the matter.”

Chiyangwa and NSSA chairman Robin Vela were not immediately
available for comment.

Local Government ministry said it was aware of the
unravelling land issue as it was briefed of developments in a memo titled “July
25, 2017 Report on NSSA-Gabroc-Chegutu Municipality 526ha Issues,” from Chegutu
town clerk to the ministry’s permanent secretary George Mlilo.

“Having perused the documentation primarily made available
to the municipality by Chiyangwa’s officials, save for the investigation report
by the ministry, the following points are quite apparent: The disposal of the
contentious 526ha by council was certainly irregular in the sense that
provisions of section 152 of the Urban Councils Act were not adhered to hence
the condemnation of the transaction as null and void by the government
investigating team,” the report read.

“In all the papers cited, the piece of land is differently
named as Hintonville Extension, Hintonville Extension South, or just 526ha
without proper identification of same and, to the extent one could argue that
if NSSA and/or Gabroc cannot legally identify the piece of land that they
purport to have purchased, they may as well be treated as having purchased
nothing as the transaction could be treated as merely bogus.”